


Between You and Me

by mariana_oconnor



Series: Tumblr fic [12]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Identity Porn, M/M, Not Beta Read, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Ronin Clint Barton, Secret Identity, Thirsty Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23325772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariana_oconnor/pseuds/mariana_oconnor
Summary: Having been banned from the superhero business as Hawkeye, Clint has taken up a secret identity in order to remain one of the Avengers. Sometimes this leads to some awkward conversations... about himself.In which Bucky is good friends with Ronin and lusting not so silently after SHIELD agent Clint Barton.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Series: Tumblr fic [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/952233
Comments: 15
Kudos: 358





	Between You and Me

Clint misses the celebratory afterparties. That’s an odd thing to think even as he’s sitting at one, but it’s the truth. Back when he was allowed on the team as Hawkeye, he could drink and shovel canapés into his mouth as much as he wanted - and Tony always made sure the canapés were amazing. These days he’s not even allowed near the dartboard in case anyone realises he’s him.

It’s stupid. And someone needs to make these full face masks more breathable, it’s getting unpleasant in here.

He’s about to leave when Bucky drops into the seat next to him and all his plans change. It’s not that he has a crush on the guy… well, yes, it’s that he has a crush on the guy. A huge, no holds barred crush, the like of which he hasn’t had since he was fifteen and one of the tightrope walkers had looked really good in their glittery leotard.

Bucky’s loose all over in a way that means Thor’s been giving him the good stuff, and Clint can’t waste this opportunity to see Bucky Barnes relaxed and a little dishevelled. Maybe it’s not entirely ethical to watch him like this from behind the mask when Bucky doesn’t even know who Clint is, just knows him as Ronin, vigilante and former mercenary for hire, but it’s hard to resist when the line of Bucky’s throat looks like that, and Bucky’s wearing a shirt that might as well be painted on. Clint is suddenly glad of the mask, because it means Bucky can’t see him drooling.

“Hey,” Bucky says, and his voice is loose too, the vowels lingering even as the gravelly consonants drag them along. “Ronin, we’re friends, right?”

“Yeah,” Clint agrees, grateful that the voice modulator that stops him from being recognised as Clint also stops him from being recognised as unreasonably horny.

“Can I talk to you about something?” Bucky says, turning to him. His hair falls over his eyes in a way that is definitely only erotic because Clint wants it to be.

“Anything you want,” Clint tells him, meaning it. He can see Natasha watching them from across the room and her expression is unfathomable.

“You’re gay, right?”

“Bi, actually,” Clint corrects, his heart picking up to a disturbing thudding rhythm in his ears, because this is not the direction he thought this would go. Bucky is an affectionate drunk, more than willing to drap an arm across your shoulders, but he hadn’t thought.

“Bi - sorry, I’ll remember that. I just… I don’t know how things work in this century, not really. Hydra were… they didn’t do much for my sex life, right?”

“Uh… right?” Clint says, looking over to Natasha again, but she can’t see the panic in his eyes because of the stupid mask. But he thinks Bucky Barnes just came out to him, and that is simultaneously the best and worst moment of his life, because if Bucky is hitting on him Clint can’t say yes. If the World Security Council finds out he’s an Avenger again he’ll be locked up in the raft before anyone can say a word, and the Avengers will probably have their charter revoked. His secret identity is the only thing keeping him free right now. As far as anyone in authority is concerned, Clint Barton retired two years ago and agreed never to take up superheroing again.

“I’m gay, by the way, you should probably know that,” Bucky says, his voice a matter of fact drawl. “An’ there’s this guy.”

“Right,” Clint says, frozen like a deer in headlights.

“An’ I want to fuck him,” Bucky says, then he frowns. “No… I mean, yes, I do. I want to lick him and push him over his stupid desk and pound into him until he’s screaming my name, and then get down on my knees and swallow him to the hilt until he comes down my throat, and then push him back against the wall under that stupid dog cops poster and just… wreck him… but I also wanna, y’know, take him out dancing and dinner and a show, y’know. Cause you can do that with guys these days.”

“Yeah…” Clint says, his voice hoarse at those beautiful mental images.

“Because… well, he ain’t classy, but I’d like to do it right, y’know,” Bucky says. “Take him out and show him a good time, then ask him back to my place and just… he’s got these biceps.”

Clint’s mind is rewiring itself from the ground up, broken to bleeding point by Bucky’s rambling, but there’s a blinking light, because he’d said Dog Cops poster. His entire world goes blank for a few seconds, and when he comes back to reality, Bucky’s still talking.

“Because when he smiles it’s like this fucking sunshine right in my face, and I want to kiss that stupid smile right off his face, and he’s got these freckles, right here,” And Bucky gestures to the exact spot on his face where Clint has freckles and Clint is in hell. Seriously, this is hell. “And I kind of want to kiss them… And his ass… oh man.”

“Uh, who is this mystery man?” Clint asks, uncertain how he’s managing to breathe, because he’s sure he’s forgotten how.

“Uh…” Bucky blinks and looks at him, as though remembering Clint is there for the first time. “Agent Barton… one of the SHIELD agents. Used to be an Avenger - Hawkeye. I found a poster of him from back then and his ass…” he drifts off a bit. “Do you think I could convince him to get that uniform on again?”

“Sounds like you should talk to him,” Clint says and Bucky turns lazily to look at him.

“Yeah, but how? I mean, I know how things used to go, but how does it work now, y’know, between two guys? Do I just go up to him and say ‘Let me take you dancing’?”

“You’re you,” Clint says. “You could probably say anything and he’d agree to it.”

“But I want to do it right,” Bucky says. “Don’t want him to think I’m just after a good night, though I wouldn’t say no.”

“Ask him for pizza or something,” Clint suggests, feeling a little hysterical that he’s giving advice on how to ask himself out. Unless there’s another Agent Barton in SHIELD…? No, Bucky had said Hawkeye. There definitely hadn’t been another Hawkeye - apart from Kate, and she doesn’t match any of the rest of the description.

“Pizza? Really?”

“Isn’t Widow his best friend?” Clint asks. “Shouldn’t you be asking her, not me?”

“Yeah, but she’d…” Bucky holds up a hand to make a gesture that isn’t very clear, but Clint gets the meaning anyway. Bucky’s right, Natasha would never let either of them live this down. But if Bucky thinks she’s not going to learn about this anyway, he’s going to be sorely mistaken. “You really think I should ask him out for pizza?”

“Definitely,” Clint says.

“Ronin,” Bucky says, wrapping an arm around Clint’s shoulder. “You are the best.”

“I try,” Clint says weakly, as Bucky presses a sloppy half-drunk kiss against his forehead.

*

It turns out that the office next to Clint’s is occupied by one Agent Nguyen, who is very much not amused when they enthusiastically put Bucky’s plans into action.

It also turns out, five months later when Clint’s Ronin mask gets ripped off in the middle of a fight, that Bucky has some very interesting ideas about the Ronin outfit, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr [here](https://mariana-oconnor.tumblr.com/post/613112965195055104/winterhawk-identity-porn)


End file.
